Artis REIT acquires U.S. office portfolio

Artis REIT acquires U.S. office portfolio

Artis Real Estate Investment Trust (TSX:AX.UN) has entered into an unconditional agreement to acquire a Class A office portfolio in Madison, Wisconsin for US$260.0 million. Madison is a thriving secondary market in the United States and is home to the largest university in the state, the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Marketwired

RioCan teams up with developers for TO real estate project

RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust (REI.UN-T) is teaming up with Tricon Capital Group Inc. and Diamond Corp. to develop a combined retail and residential project in Toronto’s midtown core, according to people familiar with the deal. The joint venture agreed to buy the real estate – a row of high-end boutiques and a block of land – for $85-million.

Globe and Mail

TD Centre floor rated for ‘well-being’ of people

TD Bank Group’s 23rd floor at its downtown Toronto TD Centre headquarters became the world’s first project certified under v1 of the WELL Building Standard last month.

Property Biz Canada

Mixed use addition for Montreal’s Quartier DIX30

Canada’s second largest shopping and lifestyle centre, Quartier DIX30 in Brossard, Que., is about to get bigger.  Construction has just begun on The Square at Quartier DIX30, which will include a new 16-storey building that will house a 95,000-square-foot, 160-room, four-star hotel as well as 107,000 square feet of class-A office space and 10,000 square feet of commercial space.

Property Biz Canada

‘Demovictions’ on the rise as Burnaby towers soar to the skies

The number of buildings rapidly springing up in the town centres of Burnaby — more than 100 buildings are in development, almost half of which are 40-plus storeys tall — is unprecedented in Metro Vancouver and maybe Canada. Burnaby is quietly going through what is likely one of the most dramatic suburban transformations in the history of Metro Vancouver, if not Canada.

Vancouver Sun

JLL rises in rank on Fortune 500

JLL (NYSE: JLL) announced today that it rose in ranking to 436 from 478 on the prestigious Fortune 500 list, which ranks the 500 largest companies based in the United States by total revenue for their respective fiscal years. JLL’s annual gross revenue reached a record high of $6 billion in 2015.

Marketwired – Marketwired

Teachers and CPPIB buy into Mexican toll highway

A curving toll road is bringing two of Canada’s largest pension funds to Mexico in an investment poised to tap into growth in the country’s manufacturing sector. The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan said Thursday that they would team up and contribute a combined $1.35-billion for nearly half of the Arco Norte toll road.

Globe and Mail – IPE Real Estate – Financial Post

Convention centre expansion completed on time and on budget

Inside the south end of the new $181-million addition to Winnipeg’s downtown convention centre, which most members of the public will never see, there is a large, circular ramp that snakes its way from street level to the top floor of the massive three-storey structure.

Winnipeg Free Press

Townhomes next to rail yard threatens SmartTrack plans

Mayor John Tory voted in favour of allowing residential homes to be built next to a GO Transit maintenance yard at the urging of allied Etobicoke councillors, ignoring the chief planner’s warning that the move threatens the mayor’s own signature SmartTrack transit plans.

Toronto Star

Edmonton conference about re-envigorating NA’s Chinatowns

A conference set to explore the future of Chinatowns in North America will also focus in on Edmonton’s Chinatown’s potential as a tourist destination, as a way to make sure the community remains an important part of the city.   Chinatown Conference organizer Lan Chan-Marples said Edmonton needs to rethink the role of its 105-year-old Chinatown.

Metro News – Edmonton Journal

NCC planning and real estate chief leaving for private sector

The man in charge of planning and real estate for the National Capital Commission, and who has been an important player in the redevelopment of LeBreton Flats, is leaving the agency for the private sector. Stephen Willis became the NCC’s executive director of capital planning in May 2014, after spending fifteen years at the consulting firm, MMM Group.

CBC

Jones New York to close all 37 stores in Canada

A year after seemingly being saved, womenswear retailer Jones New York says it now plans to close all 37 of its stores across Canada and seek creditor protection. In court filings this week, the chain of women’s clothing stores says it is unable to pay its bills and will now proceed to liquidate its holdings, including all merchandise.

CBC.ca

Hudson’s Bay revenue beats after Europe expansion, online push

Canadian retailer Hudson’s Bay Co. reported better-than expected quarterly sales as it benefited from its expansion in Europe and the acquisition of online retailer Gilt.  Hudson’s Bay bought Galeria Kaufhof and its Belgian subsidiary Inno from German retailer Metro for about $2.7-billion last year to mitigate the impact of decreased consumer spending in the United States and Canada.

Globe and Mail – Financial Post

Gender diversity rejected by shareholders of Tim Hortons parent

A proposal to create a formal diversity policy at the parent company of Tim Hortons and Burger King aimed at increasing the number of women on its all-male board of directors has been rejected. Oceanrock Investments Inc. and the Shareholder Association for Research and Education (SHARE) had asked the company to write a formal diversity policy.

Chronicle Herald – Calgary Herald

Growing global bandwidth needs driving U.S. data center REITs

Sensing huge growth potential, commercial property investors are rushing into the data center market in ever-increasing numbers as the dramatic rise in consumer and corporate demand for all things online drives the strongest returns for any REIT property sector this year.  Just this week, Overland Park, KY, QTS Realty Trust said it will acquire its third data center property in New Jersey.

CoStar Group

Featured Column

Buying your own office – Why it’s worth it now more than ever

In Vancouver, there’s a lot of talk about our dwindling industrial land supply. Hemmed in by mountains, ocean, the Agricultural Land Reserve and growing residential demands, the city is struggling to provide enough office and warehouse space for new and existing businesses.

Read more

Market Trends and Research

Two-thirds of investors boosting real asset allocations in five years

Three-quarters of institutional investors plan to increase their allocations to real assets, delegates discovered at JP Morgan’s annual Global Real Assets conference in New York.  JP Morgan polled 155 investors and found that 75% planned to up their allocations over the next five years by adding new forms of real assets to their existing real estate portfolios.

IPE Real Estate

REOC Financial Reports

Advisory firms support Timbercreek plan of arrangement

Timbercreek Mortgage Investment Corporation (TSX: TMC) and Timbercreek Senior Mortgage Investment Corporation (TSX: MTG) are pleased to announce that Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis & Co., have recommended that shareholders of TMIC and TSMIC vote FOR the proposed plan of arrangement to combine and create Timbercreek Financial Corp.

Marketwired

	REITs & REOCs – First-quarter 2016 report
	RENX has prepared a table with a convenient list of the companies and a summary of links to their reports that will be updated quarterly. First-quarter results are now arriving. Canadian REITs & REOCs – First-quarter 2016 report

 

Retail

Sears Canada will cut more costs as it posts bigger loss

Canadian department store operator Sears Canada Inc. reported a bigger quarterly loss, and said it would cut more costs this year, as the company struggles with declining sales.  Hit by increasing competition from U.S. retail giants such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Sears Canada has been shutting stores and cutting jobs.

Financial Post

New Development

Redesign aims to revitalize Vancouver’s Blood Alley

The City of Vancouver is seeking public feedback on a redesign of public space in the Downtown Eastside’s historic Blood Alley Square and Trounce Alley. The project will also have Westbank Corp. and B.C. Housing convert a derelict shelter and single-room occupancy hotel backed by the alley into a new mixed-use property that will include social housing, market rental apartments and commercial spaces.

Vancouver Sun

Malcolm Hotel project celebrates Canmore’s Scottish heritage

A ceremony last week in Canmore marked the start of Spring Creek’s construction of the Malcolm Hotel and Conference Centre.  Bagpipes and highland dancers performed, since the Malcolm takes its name from Malcolm III, King of Scots from 1058 to 1093. For Gaelic enthusiasts, his nickname was Ceann mor, or Canmore, which translates to “Big Head.”

Calgary Herald

Another contentious real-estate negotiation in Winnipeg

Nearly two years after Brian Bowman was elected Winnipeg’s mayor, questions remain about the city’s ability to handle major real-estate transactions and construction jobs. Bowman was elected mayor in 2014 on a promise to bring more openness and transparency to a city hall that was reeling from three solid years of troubled real-estate deals and capital projects.

CBC

Many Fort McMurray residents worst fears confirmed

Fort McMurray — For Terry and Tania Brittain, the metaphor was hard to miss.  Scouring the sparse remains of their Beacon Hill bungalow for the first time Wednesday, it appeared the Fort McMurray wildfire had robbed them of virtually every meaningful possession.

Edmonton Journal

Human Resources

Timbercreek Asset Management appoints new CFO

Timbercreek Asset Management announced today that Gigi Wong will join the Company as Chief Financial Officer, effective June 14, 2016. In her role as CFO, Ms. Wong will be responsible for overseeing financial and taxation reporting, treasury, corporate financings and the financial reporting and risk analytics platform for the Company.

Marketwired

Influential Atlantic Canada architect Geoff Keddy dies

Geoffrey Keddy, a multiple award-winning architect, passed away on June 6. Keddy’s name is associated with plenty of houses and commercial properties in Atlantic Canada but his most prized design might be his own home. Known as “The Arc” on the corner of Barrington and Inglis in Halifax, the home is a testament to Keddy’s modern designs.

Chronicle Herald

Other

	RENX has surpassed 9,100 Twitter followers
	Follower ICR Regina Integrity. Commitment. Results. Sask’s premiere commercial brokerage specializing in leasing, sales & property mgmt of retail, office & industrial real estate.
	Follow RENXca, the most comprehensive news feed on Twitter for Canadian real estate professionals.